Views of News

© 2019 by Walter Reimer


Thumbnail art by  ahro


"I think I'm going to learn how to survive without sleep," Meredith grumbled, hugging the steaming mug of coffee in her paws. She was sitting up in bed, her hooves on the deck. This time, however, she didn’t bother with the sheet.

He already knew what she looked like naked.

"Why?" Fuji asked.

"This is the second time I've been asleep and something big's happened," the mare said. She took a sip of her drink. "Okay, so now what? The ship blow up?"

The Komodo monitor laughed. "Nothing that big. I’d have let you know sooner if the drive core was overloading."

She eyed him, and he laughed again. “We’re still in dock, and everything’s fine with us. I just wanted to make sure you saw the news. Besides,” and he grinned toothily, “I just went off shift, so it’s time for you to wake up.” His tail pointed at the clock, and the mare nodded.

“What? No breakfast in bed?” she teased. “All right,” and she smiled, blinking sleepily at him. “Show me the news. Are we at war yet?”

“Not yet,” the bull replied as he took his padd from a pocket of his jumpsuit and unfolded it. His fingers danced over the controls to replay the news item. “Here we are,” and he gave her the padd as an image appeared.

A wolfess wearing Navy uniform appeared. She looked exhausted, and telltale differences in her fur length, texture and color showed that she’d recently undergone regeneration therapy. The background . . . “That’s Downtime Station,” Meredith said. “The Kashlanin section, I recognize the trees.” The recording started, and she increased the volume.

“My name is Jakeisha Yashere Sirivati, of the Terran Colonial Navy, rank Commander, serial number K 1279-276 SL, planet of birth Corrina. What I have to say is being said without duress and of my own free will.” The wolf paused. “The Confederate Government lied when it said that our ship was lost to hostile third-party action. We were attacked by Confederate ships when we refused to cooperate with them. It started when we received a new political officer . . . “

While Meredith listened, her jaw hanging open in shock, Fuji dug a small bag from his jumpsuit. Expertly rolling a cigarette, he lit it and took a few puffs. It was a habit he’d lately acquired; the burning substance wasn’t tobacco, but a genetically modified form of cannabis that was quite mild and not addictive.

The mare’s nose twitched, but she didn’t say anything. Fuji was off shift, and any fouled air filters would be his responsibility to replace or repair.

“The fighting started when the Political Officer and several crew tried to take over the ship. The engineering crew . . . I had f-friends there . . . I watched it from the b-bridge, bodies and blood everywhere . . . “

“Where did this come from?” Meredith asked.

Fuji stubbed out the cigarette and took a breath. “I saw the newsfeed while on break a few hours ago. The Kashlani first released what they said were images of the Star City, along with sensor logs and recordings of crewmembers telling what happened. Sirivati’s the highest-ranking survivor. The Colonial leaders on New Horizon say that they’re ‘considering.’”

“Terra’s saying it’s all lies.” It was a flat declaration, not a question.

The reptile shrugged. “You know them. Why tell the truth when you can tell two lies? And they’re mad as Markus at the Colonies for not backing them up against the Empire. The Admiral-General’s calling them enemies of the people and traitors.”

The palomino mare nodded as the wolfess told about how she and the surviving crew made their way across the Imperial border and asked for asylum. The commentary after she stopped speaking related that the survivors were living among expatriate Terrans on colony worlds established within Imperial space.

Her coffee had gone cold.

She switched off the datafeed and folded the padd up, holding it out to Fuji. “Thanks for the news, Fuji. I need to get a shower and get something to eat, seeing that you didn’t bring me any breakfast.”

He chuckled. “Care for company?”

“No. Not today, Fuji,” she replied, shaking her head. She impishly stuck her tongue out at him. “That’s what you get for waking me up, without breakfast in paw.” The two shared a soft laugh over that, and after Fuji left the cabin Meredith locked the door and headed for her shower.

The hot water drenched her fur and she stared at her reflection in the glass door as she soaped up. Part of the report had included a chart indicating where the Star City had entered Kashlanin space, and she recognized the area. She’d been familiar with it during her service aboard the Rani Anitra and the Kith, and that made her think about Varan.

The vir hadn’t told her about the missing cruiser, but she couldn’t be very surprised about that; there was such a thing as operational security, of course. There were certain things that she couldn’t tell her lover, so things were even. Still, Terra’s actions were disturbing, to say the least.

She was rinsing out her mane when she remembered. The Rani Anitra’s dining hall; Nkosazana Kim telling her about something called The Order. “If that sounds like a religious thing, it sort of is. They worship Terra. Not the planet, but the idea of Terra’s mission to spread throughout space. Under Terra’s leadership, of course.”

Which made her wonder just what the hell was really going on.